A cryptic note taped next to the entrance of Manteca Tailoring in Manteca offers the only explanation as to why the shop has been closed that last couple of weeks. Taped on the door are messages fr...

ROSE ALBANO RISSO/The Bulletin

A sign at the entrance to Manteca Tailoring on Maple Street has been baffling several people including some customers in a panic.

“SORRY? EMERGENCY” reads the vague hand-written note taped above the “hours of operation” notice by the entrance door, which is the only given explanation as to why the business is closed. Taped on the door itself are handwritten messages from customers asking about clothes that they need to pick up.

“Wedding this weekend. Please give them back!” reads one of the handwritten taped notes.

One concerned customer who called the Manteca Bulletin said the business, which is also called Oscar Tailoring, has been closed “for a month now.” While he is not in a similar bind as the customer who is attending a wedding this weekend, he said he would like to know what is happening to the business owner, Oscar Sarkis, who is also the tailor and the only one working at his shop.

“It’s pretty bizarre. He didn’t call us up, his customers. I’m fine,” he said, adding he needs to pick up only one shirt which he doesn’t need right away.

“I don’t know what happened to him, whether he got into an accident or he is sick,” said the customer named Roy.

He has been calling the tailoring shop’s telephone number “many times” but he could not leave any message because “there’s no answering machine.”

It is a family medical emergency that is behind the temporary closure of the business, confirmed Clif Givens, who owns Redi-Mark located next door to the tailoring shop.

Oscar Tailoring has not been closed for a whole month, he clarified; just off and on.

“His wife is very ill,” said Givens who co-owns and operates Redi-Mark which has been one of the longest-running businesses in downtown Manteca. The tailoring shop and the engraving, copying and printing business are located in the same commercial building complex on the west side of the Manteca Post Office. The entrance to both businesses, in fact, faces each other. And the business owners have known each other for years. Manteca Tailoring’s previous owner, many years ago, sold the business to Sarkis who has been a professional tailor for decades although the bulk of the job that he does for customers involve alterations.

Clif Givens said Sarkis has actually been coming in and out, usually a couple of hours each day. Unfortunately, his customers have not been able to catch him when he was there. But this week, Sarkis has not been to his shop at all, said Givens, adding he hopes everything is alright with the tailor and his family.

One of the notes written on J&J Printing stationery also has the same sentiment.